News at Wilsons Of Rathkenny

Wilsons of Rathkenny expand the Weidemann brand

Wilsons of Rathkenny have been serving the farming community for over 40 years from their Cushendall Road premises, just 3 miles north of Ballymena.

Over the years Wilsons have been expanding their premises and now the full site measures 16 acres in total. With a purpose built Agriculture and Ground Care showroom and also a large display yard for agricultural machines, Wilsons have shown the extent they are willing to go to help customers find the right product. As well as sales, Wilsons also have dedicated Parts and service departments to help customers after they have made a purchase.

Wilsons have been Irish Distributors for Germany’s Number One Wheeled Loader for the past 3 years and the interest in these machines has been so huge that Wilsons had no option but to employ a new salesman and also appoint four new dealers on the island of Ireland.

Wesley McMillan has recently joined the team at Wilsons and brings with him vast experience and knowledge of the farming and agriculture community. Wesley has been selling wheeled loaders to farmers for the past 30 years and is very well known in farming circles.

Wesley will mainly be involved with Weidemann sales for Counties Antrim, Tyrone, Fermanagh, L’derry and Donegal. He is available to visit customers at their premises and talk to them about their needs and explain the benefits of owning Weidemann machinery.

Wesley is available to take any of the Weidemann products out to your premises and demonstrate them, he can be contacted on 07740613553 or by emailing wmcmillan@wilsonsofrathkenny.co.uk.

Alternatively, Wilsons of Rathkenny can be contacted directly on 028 2175 8261, ask for Laurence McMullan or Mark McConaghie.

T.H. Troughton, of Poyntzpass, Newry have been appointed Weidemann dealers for Counties Armagh and Down, including Dundalk.

Established in 1979, T.H. Troughton are well known for being one of Northern Ireland’s top suppliers of Agricultural machinery. Their business has been developed around the basis of sound customer support and after-sales care through their comprehensive range of service options. At all times they aim to provide their customers with top class, top of the range, quality products.

Clarke Machinery Group was established in the early 1980's by Gerard Clarke. Now they have four outlets in total, in County Cavan, County Meath and County Roscommon.

Clarkes Machinery Group provides a wide and varied range of products which are innovative, reliable and superior. They pride themselves in providing the personal touch when dealing with their clients. Clarkes are now Weidemann dealers for Counties Sligo, Mayo, Galway, Monaghan, Cavan, Leitrim, Longford, Roscommon, Westmeath, Meath and Louth, excluding the Dundalk area.

Paddy Byrne Machinery is situated in Grange, just on the outskirts of Roscrea, County Tipperary.

They are a family run company who have been in business for over 30 years and are well known for supplying a wide range of agricultural machinery. Paddy Byrne Machinery pride themselves on havingan excellent after-sales service and also with supplying of agricultural parts.

Paudy Buckley & Company Ltd. opened in 1979 by Paudy and his wife, Christine, as a used tractor dealership - that business has expanded as a result of a lot of hard work.

Paudy Buckley set up his own servicing and repairing a range of tractor makes. The business expanded as he started buying and selling used tractors and over the years Paudy Buckley & Co. have built a reputation for doing a good job and striking a fair bargain.

Decades since its launch, this agile, powerful machine for farms, local authorities and industrial applications continues to offer convincing performance.

For 40 years, the Weidemann-Hoftrac® has proven its worth as a versatile tool for farms, equestrian businesses, the commercial sector and local authorities. Out of the initial prototypes designed as simple 3-wheel loaders, in 1972 / 1973 a small wheel loader with articulated steering was developed to which its engineers gave the trend-setting name "Hoftrac®". The launch of the "Perfect 130" model in 1974 then laid the foundation for a true success story in agricultural engineering. At a time when tractor sales were falling dramatically, the Hoftrac® opened up an entirely new market segment in agricultural engineering for Weidemann, its dealers and indeed the entire industry. "It's amazing how our little machine with articulated steering managed to bring about such a huge change in agriculture, explains Hans Heinrich Schmidt, Technical Director at Weidemann, who helped design and launch the original Hoftrac® in the 1970s.

The start of a growing market

The small red machines with articulated steering were an immediate success. By 1978, the production capacities at the factory built just 9 years previously were already no longer adequate. To meet the strong demand a new facility was constructed on the edge of Flechtdorf, Germany. In the years that followed, both the choice of models on offer and the production figures grew continuously, with machine number 25,000 rolling from the production line in 1995.

Today, well over 65,000 red "Weidemanns" have been built. Customers can now configure their ideal machine from a choice of 13 different basic types and numerous optional equipment. In addition to the Hoftrac® models, the Weidemann portfolio also includes large wheel loaders, tele wheel loaders and the classic telehandlers.

Models range from 25hp to 120hp, with lift capacities from 500kg to 5 tonne.

Machine work in narrow stables

What is the basis for the success of the Hoftrac® models and their "big brothers"? These machines continue to be a genuinely practical solution. At the start of the 1970s, the Weidemann brothers experimented in their workshop in Diemelsee-Flechtdorf, Hessen, Germany on a machine able to both enter and work in a stable. Previously this had been almost impossible because even in the then relatively new buildings constructed in the 1950s and 1960s, only the feed alley could usually be accessed using small tractors. Behind the cattle, there was only enough space for a wheelbarrow, meaning that mucking out and many feeding jobs simply had to be carried out manually, i.e. using a wheelbarrow and fork.

When developing the Hoftrac®, the priority was therefore to create a machine capable of performing this hard manual labour, a machine that could not only enter the narrow alleys but actually carry out work there. Weidemann wanted to construct a machine that was both as narrow as possible and extremely agile. The aim was to mechanise this hard manual work, regardless of the size and shape of the buildings, and this was only possible with a machine with articulated steering.

Weidemann continues to grow

For Weidemann, which is now part of Wacker Neuson, the Hoftrac® was the catalyst for dynamic growth. Weidemann has grown from a small agricultural business in Diemelsee Flechtdorf, Hessen, Germany to become central Europe's leading manufacturer of Hoftracs®, wheel loaders and telehandlers for agriculture, horticulture, equestrian businesses, local authorities and industry. Around 300 workers construct the different series at the company's new plant in Korbach, Germany inaugurated in 2007, and an international sales force markets these top-class machines worldwide.

The board of directors sees interesting perspectives for growth not just in the established markets in Germany and Central Europe but also worldwide.

After all, the reasons why the Hoftrac® is so popular are the same almost everywhere. Technically, they are down to its unparalleled agility facilitated by the high angle of inclination, the low clearance heights provided for by its design, and the high performance and reliability of the machine itself. Each new model of the Hoftrac® responds effectively to different and evolving customer requirements. The ongoing customer-oriented development at Weidemann ensures that this success story will continue into the future, for example with the T4512, the "Hoftrac®" among telehandlers which, since its launch in 2009, has found very rapid acceptance on the market.

Visit the Weidemann stand at the FTMTA show in Punchestown Event Centre, Naas, Co. Kildare on February 7th, 8th & 9th 2013.